CHICO &GT;&GT; While SkyWest noticed that Chico was trying to rally its air travelers, that effort didn't turn into more passengers, said a spokesperson for SkyWest Airlines, which announced Thursday it will end commercial service here on Dec. 2.

"We have had conversations with (Chico) earlier this year about performance. They were aware of how the market was performing and our evaluations," said Marissa Snow of the airline based in St. George, Utah.

She said the pull-out decision took great evaluation and time.

"It was very difficult considering there has been service for more than 20 years here."

The Chico Airport Commission had repeatedly warned the community that it could lose its air service if it was not using it. The warnings were more strident after SkyWest announced in April it would be pulling out of Modesto by June.

"We were watching, talking about it," said Snow about the Chico rally. But the passenger numbers didn't increase.

"It wasn't sustainable."

SkyWest's press release announcing the halt of service because of "poor performance in the market ..."

While it was not heavily promoted, SkyWest did reduce ticket prices for Chico flights quite dramatically, as low as $59 one-way purchased two weeks in advance.

"Sometimes discounted fares are used to stimulate traffic," she noted.

Travelers had complained about high ticket prices as well as unreliable service.

As far as flight reliability, Snow did mention construction work on the San Francisco airport runway that has now finished but interfered with flights. But she couldn't speak to other incidents of delays or cancellations.

"SkyWest is very focused on providing on-time, reliable service. Cancellation is always a last resort. There are a lot of factors going into (cancellations)."

In the last full year, 2013, the FAA said 26.58 percent of the flights into Chico were late, and 5.41 percent were canceled.

Travelers who have purchased SkyWest tickets for flights after Dec. 2 will be contacted by the company either by phone or email. Other traveling arrangements will be made or the ticket price refunded, she said.

There are 11 full- and part-time employees at the Chico office who have been offered other opportunities with the company, she said.

In contrast, Redding is also served by three daily SkyWest flights, and is going after a U.S. Department of Transportation grant that would help SkyWest defray the costs of replacing its 30-seat aircraft with 50-seat ones.

According to the Record-Searchlight newspaper, Redding received a $500,000 grant from this program in 2004 to help subsidize Horizon Air flights to Los Angeles. Horizon flew from Redding to Los Angeles International from 2005 to 2011. Additionally, the city and Shasta County Economic Development Corp. are talking to five airlines about Los Angeles service, the newspaper reported.

"About 40 businesses, organizations and individuals have invested more than $1 million in a travel bank to help attract the L.A. service," the newspaper reported.

Since 2009, between 24 and 29 percent of flights into Chico have been more than 15 minutes late, and between 2.94 and 8.12 percent of flights were canceled, according to data collected by the U.S. Department of Transportation.